After Akuze
by pixelatrix
Summary: One-Shot related to Not Who You Think - Fem-Shep/Zaeed M. pairing. Slight Spoilers for ME. Rated M for Language & Stuff.


**A/N:**

**This is a one-shot related to my Zaeed/Shepard series called: Not Who You Think. **

**It starts one year after Fia left after she recovered from her injuries after Akuze and the one month shore-leave that she had. **

**It covers briefly in parts the time between Akuze and Shepard's assignment to the **_**Normandy. **_

**Enjoy.**

**Rated M for language.**

**Not beta'd so any errors are my own.**

**Bioware owns all.**

**Read. Enjoy. Review. Favorite. I'll love you forever.**

_From: Z. M.  
To: R. S.  
Subj: One Goddamn Year._

Are you ever going to talk to me again?

Zaeed

* * *

_From: Z. M.  
To: R. S.  
Subj: re: One Goddamn Year._

Are you still on Arcturus?

Zaeed

* * *

Nothing.

He hadn't gone this long without seeing or speaking to Rory since he'd found her on Mindoir. She'd blurted out that she was in love with him in a post-sex moment and neither of them had handled it well. He'd responded...badly, very badly. She'd just bolted. And then he'd been a complete asshole in response.

He missed her.

She made him laugh and pissed him the hell off.

* * *

_From: Z.M._

_To: R.S._

_Subj: Jessie_

_She finally stopped working._

_Zaeed_

* * *

Rory reclined back in her quarters on Arcturus. She had orders to head to Vancouver in a few days, a year at Alliance HQ that would be so much fun. She would be completing her N7 training while she was there. She stared at the latest message from Massani.

She _could _respond.

_Not yet._

Three months later, she was slogging through the training. A fucking macho punk thought it would be cute to take her on in the shooting range. She kicked the bastard's ass. _He didn't take it well_. They were running one of the obstacle courses, rappelling down a wall when he accidentally let the rope go. She was lucky not to break her goddamn back. He got his stupid ass tossed in the brig and out of the N7 program. She got a broken leg.

It left her in the hospital bored out of her damn mind and lonely.

* * *

_Inter-Relay Text Chat_

_Location: Vancouver_

_From: Rory_

_To: Zaeed_

_14:16 R: Zaeed?_

_14:25 Z: Rory_

_14:26 Z: Been a long goddamn time._

_14:29 R: Yep._

_14:31 Z: How are you?_

_14:34 R: Oh great. Hanging out in the hospital with a broken leg._

_14:35 Z: What the hell happened?_

_14:38 R: I'm…I'm not ready for this._

_14:39 User has disconnected._

_._

* * *

The pills the docs gave her when they reset her leg knocked her out for hours. It was late in the evening when her eyes finally opened again. She reached out to flip on the light and was surprised to find Zaeed sitting in the chair next to her bed. He was just in reaching distance. Her fingers had a mind of their own. They touched the stubble on his cheek. His hand covered hers as he woke up.

"Get lost on your way to a bounty?" She frowned at him.

"We need to talk." He shifted the chair closer to the bed.

"About?"

"You know about bloody what." His grip on her hand tightened a little.

"No, we really fucking don't." She tried to pull her hand away. "Let go of my hand, Massani."

"Rory."

Shepard was not in the mood to have this conversation, her leg hurt and she wanted him to go away. She glanced around for an idea and spotted the emergency call button on the little table next to her bed. With a light tap from her finger, the light outside her room started to flash. A moment later, her doctor rushed into the room. He took one look at Zaeed and called in a couple of the Alliance MPs that were always on call in the evening. She winked at him when they _escorted_ him out of the room.

It took a month for her to be back up to full fighting capacity and to get back into her N7 training. She was force to join a new group, but that worked well for her. She was walking out of a local bar one evening a year later. She'd been celebrating completion of the training when a hand wrapped around her mouth and dragged her into an alley. She was about to elbow her attacker when a familiar voice muttered, _'don't even bloody think about it.'_

"I thought I made myself clear at the hospital. I _do not want to talk to you_." She glared at him when he finally let her go.

"We're going to fucking talk about this, Shepard." Zaeed back her up against the wall.

"No, we really aren't." She tried to duck under his arm but he stopped. "Let me go, Zaeed."

"Not until you talk to me." He frowned down at her. "I'm sorry for…"

"Being a complete and utter bastard?" She suggested helpfully.

"Yes."

"That's wonderful. Let me go." She tried to shove him away, but Massani could be an unmovable object when he wanted to. "I accept your apology. But I'm not interested in whatever else it is you think we need to talk about. I'm done with this. I don't want to hurt you, so I suggest that you back away."

"Hurt me?" He raised an eyebrow at her then glanced down to find that she was pointing a pistol at his grown. With a sigh of frustration, he backed away.

"Leave me alone, Massani. I mean it." She warned him and then started walking out of the alley.

"I miss you, Rory."

The words were spoken so quietly that she wasn't sure that he meant for her to hear them. It wasn't what he said, but the slight inflection in his voice that stopped her mid-step. _Damn fucking bastard. _ Since Mindoir, she'd spent almost every shore-leave with him. She'd talked to him at least once a day on average. Two years without really talking to him had been…painful, even if she was pissed off at him.

Shepard was still thinking about it when an arm wrapped around her shoulders from behind. He pulled her back against his body and his other arm slid around her waist. He pressed a kiss against the back of her head before resting his chin on top of her shoulder.

"Are you going to bloody leave me again?" He growled into her ear. "I'm tired of being fucking ignored."

"I vote that we pretend that it never happened." She tried really hard to ignore how he was making her feel.

"Be more goddamn specific."

She waved her hand at his head trying to get him to stop muttering in her ear. He didn't budge…bastard. "Forget about what I said…after…you know, and your spectacularly terrible response to it. How about that?"

"Rory. If you really expect me to…"

"You've got two options. Let me go, and I'll just keep pretending that I never met you. I'll never talk to you again." She felt like she was stabbing herself directly in the chest. She took a deep breath and hoped that he'd go with the second option.

"What's the second fucking option?" The stubble on his chin rubbed against her neck and her knees almost went out from under her. His arm tightened around her. "Having trouble, Rory?"

"Shut up." She nudged his boot with hers. "The second one is simple. Forget that I ever said…what…I said. And I'll forget that you were a total jackass. I just want to go back to that really remarkable moment before..."

"Remarkable?" He chuckled.

"Damn it, focus."

"Oh, I'm focused Rory." He placed a kiss on her neck.

"Not on that." She elbowed him in the side until he let go of her. She turned around to face him. "I'm serious, if you can't do that, I'm walking away."

"How am I supposed to forget that you told me…"

"That's what I thought." Rory stepped up and covered his mouth with her hand. "Don't follow me."

"Rory."

She ignored him and walked as quickly as she could towards one of the skycabs waiting near the bar. She hopped in one and headed home to her temporary quarters at Alliance HQ. Her new orders hadn't come in yet, until they did, she was just hanging out in Vancouver. Zaeed was reclining on _her_ bed when she stepped into the room.

_Fucking bastard._

"Zaeed." She tossed her jacket onto the nearby desk and sank down on the edge of the bed. This back and forth shit was messing with her emotions.

A strong hand circled her wrist and tugged her down on the bed beside him. "Listen to me very fucking carefully, if you bloody think that I'm just letting you…"

She turned her head to look up at him. "Second option is it?"

He muttered a litany of creative curses that she couldn't quite understand before finally nodding his head. "Second goddamn option."

* * *

_A year later._

Zaeed had intended to surprise Rory for her birthday. He was heading up to her apartment in Vancouver, she'd been working with several of the trainers. She'd promoted to Commander and she was going to be assigned to a new ship when it was finished. Until then, she was helping to train N7s. He was _surprised_ to see her walking out of her building with a rather tall marine. He looked about Rory's age. He had his arm around Rory's waist and Zaeed had to resist the urge to shoot the bastard where he stood.

He tried to tell himself to leave. _The fuck was he doing_. He was fucking Zaeed Massani. He did not follow women around like a goddamn love-struck puppy. Yet, there he was, watching Rory on what appeared to be a date. They'd joined a group at a restaurant, but the kiss that he saw exchanged between the two told him that it wasn't just a friendly thing.

His teeth ground together while he watched them slow dance at a club later in the evening. It felt like slow torture. He'd fucked up all those years ago. The moment the words were out, he knew it had been a catastrophic mistake. But seeing Rory in another man's arms wasn't something he was ready to fucking deal with. He turned away for a moment and when he glanced back, Rory was gone. Her date had gone back to hang out with the rest of their friends.

_Where the hell had she gone?_

"Are you fucking spying on me?"

"Yes." Zaeed found her standing behind him with her hands on her hips. "Who the fucking hell is he?"

"My date." Rory poked him in the chest with her finger. "Is there a problem with that?"

He glared at her. "You…"

"Why are you here?" She frowned up at him.

"Happy Birthday?"

Rory burst out laughing and the tension between them disappeared. She let him pull her into a hug. "Are you jealous of my date?"

"No."

"Right." She tilted her head back to look up at him. "Besides, you were out with that one chick last month."

He could tell from the forced smile that it had bothered her. "And you knew that how?"

"She answered when I tried to talk to you via vid-comm." The smile disappeared altogether. It made him wonder what the hell had been said and it told him that Rory hadn't moved on even if she was on a date. "And no, I'm not telling you what we talked about."

Zaeed made a quick decision. He swung her up in his arms and carried her out the back exit of the club.

"Put me down, damn it. I'm on a date." Rory struggled against him.

"You were on a date." He set her down on her feet but kept an iron-grip on her hand. "And now we're going to have a little chat."

"We _were_ having a _little chat_." She gave up trying to get away.

Ten minutes later, she was sitting on the edge of the bed in his hotel room watching him sip scotch.

"This is a really quiet chat." Rory rolled her eyes at him.

"Who was he?" Zaeed set the glass down carefully. It was tempting to smash the thing against the wall. Damn that fucking marine.

"My date? Josh? He was in my N7 class. He's on his way to join one of the spec ops teams." She shrugged indifferently. "He's hot."

"He's young."

"Young? He's my age." Rory gave him a confused look. "You really are fucking jealous. That's priceless."

This was not the conversation that he wanted to have. _Goddamn it._ Rory always managed to find a way to turn everything around on him. He watched her in silence for a moment then made a decision. He stood up and headed over to crouch in front of her. His hand slid into her hair. She started to back away and his fingers tangled in her hair to hold her tightly.

"What are…"

He cut her off with a kiss. It wasn't a gentle kiss either. He wanted to erase the fucking punk from her mind. Her lips parted in surprise and his tongue slid between them. He broke the kiss but kept his grip on her.

"Does he kiss you like that, Rory?" He muttered against her neck. "Hmm?"

"Damn it, Massani." She pressed her hands against his shoulders to push him away. "It's been…"

"Too fucking long." He answered for her.

"The last time." She couldn't seem to form a complete thought.

"The last time, I wasn't careful enough with what you were giving me." His fingers trailed along her inner thigh, she spread her legs a little, he knew he'd won the argument.

Zaeed might have won the argument. But he woke up the following morning to an empty bed. Six months later, he caught an ANN article that Rory had been assigned to XO of the _Normandy_. He thought that maybe it was time for him to try contacting her again. At some point, she had to stop running from the idea that she was in love with him.


End file.
